Fading Echoes/Chapter 1
Chapter description :Dovepaw dreams, and voices call out her name. She struggles in the current while it drags her through darkness, past trees and branches. Dovepaw hears Rippletail's whimper in the dream, and awakens with a start. Ivypaw stirs beside her and asks if she was dreaming. She looks at her sister anxiously and comments that Dovepaw was twitching like a mouse. The gray she-cat says that it was a bad dream, and her heart pounds while Rippletail's whimper echoes in her head. She licks Ivypaw's head, and tells her that the dream was gone now. Ivypaw falls asleep and Dovepaw breathes in her sister's calming scent, and she reminds herself that she is home and everything was okay. :Dovepaw stretches in her nest and climbs out of the den. The clearing is bathed in moonlight, and she can hear Poppyfrost's newborn kits' mews from the nursery and snores from the other dens in the clearing. Dovepaw notes that the air feels strange, cold and wet, and remembers when the wind was dry on her tongue. She now tastes the green freshness of the forest. Clouds drift across the sky as they drape Silverpelt like cobwebs, and Dovepaw wonders if Rippletail is watching. Her thoughts wander to the prophecy and lets her senses roam throughout the territories. Dovepaw pictures two cats walking beside the WindClan border. She wonders why, and decides to tell Jayfeather. The medicine cat irritably tells her that he was dreaming, and Dovepaw anxiously wonders if she had disturbed a message from StarClan. Jayfeather complains that he was close to catching a mouse, and holds out his paws a mouse-length apart to emphasize it. Dovepaw is relieved, and then proceeds to tell Jayfeather what she saw of two cats walking around the lake. :Jayfeather asks her if they are heading for ThunderClan territory, and Dovepaw nods. The medicine cat asks which Clan they are from, and, after casting out her senses again, Dovepaw identifies them as two she-cats, Mothwing and Mistyfoot. Jayfeather comments that the two cats are grieving, and concludes that Leopardstar must be dead. The medicine cat remarks that they must be heading to the Moonpool. Dovepaw helps Jayfeather separate herbs while they talk about the RiverClan leader, and he also reassures Dovepaw's doubts about Rippletail, saying his death wasn't her fault. He meows Mistyfoot will be a good leader, because she is fair and the Clans respect her. Jayfeather notes that since she's already on her way to the Moonpool, she shouldn't be challenged like she once would have been. Dovepaw curiously questions him, and he simply replies that Hawkfrost, Mothwing's brother, would have challenged Mistyfoot in a heartbeat. Dovepaw asks if he had seen Hawkfrost in StarClan, but he brushes off the question, and tells her to handle the herbs more carefully. She wonders if Jayfeather has seen Rippletail in StarClan. :After she leaves the medicine den, Brambleclaw orders her to join a patrol with him and Lionblaze. Her mentor emerges from the warriors' den, and Brambleclaw tells him that he is joining the dawn patrol. Dovepaw watches as Poppyfrost emerges from the nursery along with her kits, and the knowledge of Leopardstar's death churns inside her. Brambleclaw then suggests that Ivypaw and Cinderheart join the patrol, and they set out into the forest. Dovepaw and Ivypaw play for a while, until Brambleclaw comes toward them with Cinderheart and Lionblaze trailing behind. He says that they can play later, but Ivypaw suddenly yowls in pain and lifts her paw. Cinderheart examines it, locates a splinter, and pulls it out. Brambleclaw sees the two halves of a broken stick in the grass, and theorizes that the splinter must have come from that. He then orders Dovepaw and Ivypaw to throw the broken pieces of the stick in the lake so no other cat would get hurt. As the last part of the stick strikes the water, Dovepaw hears the yowl of a cat in pain. She realizes, after casting her senses out, that it was Jayfeather. Lionblaze stands beside her, worry in his gaze as her stares at the pieces of broken stick floating in the lake. Characters Major }} Minor *Jayfeather *Brambleclaw *Lionblaze *Cinderheart *Poppydawn *Cherrykit *Molekit }} Mentioned *Firestar *Mistyfoot *Mothwing *Leafpool *Leopardstar *Onestar *Mudclaw *Hawkfrost }} Errors *Brokenstar is mistakenly called a black tom. Notes and references Category:Omen of the Stars arc Category:Chapter subpages Category:Fading Echoes